Dhoni wins the toss — and receives a standing ovation

Edgbaston rocks with the emotions of a contest between the sport’s greatest rivals in which only pride was at stake

WHEN India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 World Cup — a rare example of them
sharing anything — an early front page headline in the Times of India was:
“Cup Fever Mounts”.

The only other story, buried underneath it in the kind of minuscule print
normally reserved for the 4.45 racecard at Market Rasen, was headlined: “150
Killed In Indo-Pak Border Clashes.” Like Bill Shankly’s football, cricket on
the sub-continent really is more important than life and death.

As hordes of flag-waving Indian and Pakistani spectators gathered at Edgbaston
before the start of yesterday’s Champions Trophy game, official-looking
people in bright yellow jackets were bellowing various instructions into
their megaphones, but whatever important information they were trying to
convey was completely drowned out by a cacophony of whistles, horns, and
bugles.

It might have represented a normal morning for a traffic policeman in Calcutta
or Islamabad, but not for your average cricket